Dr. Maiko Nishi is a Research Fellow of United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), engaging in research and capacity development for the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). Her area of research interest includes social-ecological system governance, local and regional planning, agricultural land policy, landscape stewardship, and biocultural diversity. In particular, her interest lies in multi-level governance, land tenure and use, and subjectivities of institutional actors in governing natural resources. She began her career as a consultant in urban planning and experienced projects related to participatory planning, rural water supply and regional development. She currently serves as a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) thematic assessment on transformative change. Dr. Suneetha M.
Subramanian is currently a Research fellow with United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). She has more than 15 years of experience in international and sub-national research and capacity building activities relating to biodiversity and human well-being focusing on equity, traditional knowledge, linking policy goals to local priorities and community well-being, and socio-ecological resilience. She has been involved in various assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) - including Regional, Global and Values Assessments - as Lead and Co-ordinating Lead Authors. Dr. Philip Varghese is a postdoctoral researcher at Akita International University and United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). He earned his M.Phil. and Ph.
D. degrees in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in India (2010-2017), and holds Master's and Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Madras Christian College, Chennai, and St. Stephen's College, Delhi, respectively. In 2015, he was awarded a doctoral research fellowship by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. His doctoral research explored the political and environmental impacts of tourism development in Wayanad, India. From 2021 to 2022, he was the co-investigator in a collaborative research project supported by Hanns Seidel Stiftung, India, which studied 'India's Neighbourhood Policy Towards the Southeast Asia Region: A Study on the Act East Policy'. He has five years of experience teaching at the university level and three years of experience in the non-governmental sector as a research and policy advocacy officer. His current research interests include tourism and development politics, biodiversity, indigenous communities, and sustainability.
His work has been published in esteemed journals such as Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism and The Theory and Practice of Legislation.